[Photography] One Day in Bologna

After packing my life into two small bags, I embarked on the most wild adventure of my life, travelling directly from my temporary home of 8 months in Sicily, hitching rides through Italy, flying to Germany, swinging into Prague, flying to Greece, Budapest and then settling in Australia. I took way too many photos and have way too much to say for just a single post, so in no particular order, this series accounts my trip up until now.

Instead of going directly from Florence to Milan, I decided the day would be better spent exploring a new place. I’d heard fabulous things about the medieval city of Bologna so I thought it would make a great day trip!

Bologna is famous for a few things:

Bolognese sauce
Ragu
Mortadella
Medieval architecture (aka, columns)

And not much else. But there’s lots of churches and a few museums and quite nice shopping to do while you’re there. I only had a few hours and it was satisfying enough for me. I wish I’d suffered the climb to the top of the tower (there’s no lift and I believe the most beautiful things come from hard work) and seen the skyline, but we a little lazy after lunch and the weather wasn’t the greatest.

Here’s how to see Bologna in one day without breaking the bank:

Drop your bags off at the train station; there’s a convenient baggage storage service at your convenience! We spent about €14 each for about 5 hours, cheaper than a night at a hostel.
Find a great place for lunch. Fortunately, despite the fact that the city’s nickname is “the fat one”, you can get your fill of Bolognese sauce and tortellini for reasonable prices. I went to Pizzeria Ristorante La Brace which DOES have a “table charge” (a sneaky €2 Italian restaurants add onto every bill, HOWEVER they don’t expect tips), but the food is good and so is the house wine! I joked it was an American girl’s #EatPrayLove dream to have a guilt-filled pasta lunch with rich red wine and a handsome Italian to pay for it all!
Walk, walk, walk. The best way to get rid of that pasta-filled guilt is just to walk it off. Enjoy the colonnade-lined streets, historical architecture and buildings. Don’t miss: Palazzo Comunale, Basilica di San Petronio, the towers, Santo Stefano, and the Fountain of Neptune.
Try the best gelato in town at Cremeria Funivia, in Piazza Cavour. High-quality ingredients and traditional recipes get a fresh take in this unique gelateria which offers exciting flavours like the Alice: a creamy, vanilla mascarpone. Best of all, every cone gets a dollop of molten chocolate inside! Buonissimo!
Today, Bologna is a lively university town offering tons of edgy, student-filled piazzas and taverns. Check it out if you have the time!